Boredom
by Unproductivity
Summary: Ken is bored... until he finds a few cute somethings to keep him and a friend quite busy. *4th Chapter Up*
1. The box arrives...

Standard Disclaimer:  As much as I want it to be true, the Lovely Weiß Boys will never be mine.  So, I'll just borrow them for a bit.  I can't guarantee that this fic will be updated too regularly, *randomly kills Accounting and Pre-Calc classes* With schoolwork and such, who knows.  Warning: This fic may contain some potential shounen-ai, (YohjiXKen) so …enjoy!  Oh, and review if you like. Review if you don't like. Tell me why.  You know the drill.  

            "_Mro~wl_," The old lady's cat purred as it rubbed against Ken Hidaka's legs.  Ken, who was sitting with his head propped up on his fists, looked down at the calico.

            "Watcha want cat?  You wanna play?"  He took one of his stray apron strings and dangled it in front of the cat.  The said cat took the opportunity to bat at the plaything a few times before returning to rubbing up against random objects. 

"_Purrrowl_," she meowed as she rubbed up against the counter before flopping down on the floor.

"Well, at least you're entertained easily enough."  Ken sighed, returning to his bored position.  Business was slow today.  In fact, he was the only one currently watching the store.  Omi had taken care of most of the closings tuff before he left an hour before.  So poor Siberian had no customers to serve, nobody to talk to, and nothing to do.  He was downright bored.

He saw a little piece of paper on the desk he was sitting at, and proceeded to doodle.  He had about filled up the entire page with little random drawings, when a familiar voice filled the room.  

"Wow.  Somebody looks like they could use a little excitement.  You gonna fall asleep over there, Hidaka?"  The tall blond asked, stepping into the room.

"Huh? Oh, hi Yohji.  Yeah, it's been really slow."  The younger boy replied.

"Yeah, well you might as well start to close up.  A thunderstorm's suppose to be coming through here soon, and I don't think we'll get much business within the next half hour." Yohji suggested.

"Well, I would, except Omi did just about everything before he left. All I really have to do is flip the sign over and lock the door.  That's how slow we were."  Ken replied.

Yohji's eyes widened.  "Damn. I wish I'd had your shift."

"No you don't. You can't imagine how bored I was until you showed up."

Yohji started to speak, but was interrupted by a loud thunderclap.  _ insert thunder sound here _ "Um, I don't think anyone'd mind if you shut down early.  Better hurry, it's starting to rain."

Ken untied his apron, balled it up, and threw it at his taller companion.  "Here. Take this."

"Oi! What was that for?" Yohji mocked a hurtful tone.

Ken smiled to himself as he walked to the door. A blur of motion caught his eye.  "Wha?"  He looked out the window of the door, watching as someone ran away from the _Koneko_.1  

"That's weird."  Ken jumped at the sound of Yohji's voice so close.  Yohji had also seen the blur and had come up behind Ken to look out the window as well.

"Yeah, I wonder what—Huh?" Ken looked down, spotting a box in front of the store.

"What's that?  Think they left it behind?"  Yohji asked, gesturing in the direction the blur had gone.

"Dunno. Probably."  The soccer player opened the door, knelt down and peered into the box.  "Awwww! Kawaii!  Yohji, look!" 

Yohji looked down at Ken. Or rather, at what Ken was holding. A ball of fluff. A mewing ball of fluff. A mewing ball of fluff with its eyes glued shut. Or so it seemed to Yohji.  A drop of rain landed in Yohji's eye.

"Help me, Yohji." Ken asked as he picked up the box.

"How do you want me to help?  You seem to be doing fine on your own."  Yohji replied.

"Well, could you at least hold the door open?"  Ken asked, struggling with the slippery box.

"Yare, yare," Yohji said as he held the door open for Ken.  "What do you plan on doing with them Kenken?"

"Well, it would appear that they have no mother, so _I'm_ gonna take care of them.  And don't call me that!" Ken growled.

"Alright, Ken. Mother of kittens." Yohji grinned as he locked the door.  Suddenly, Ken's balled up apron hit him on the back of the head.  "Ow! _Grrrrr_…." Yohji mumbled before turning around to help Ken with the kittens.

~TBC

Review please. Tell me what you think, what I need to work on, if it looks like it'll go anywhere, or you could just randomly glomp someone. That's always fun. ^_^  Anyway, this was my first Weiß fic, so I want to know how I'm doing. Thanks for reading!

1. Authors Note: I realized as I was writing that how silly that sounded, since the mysterious person was not only running away from a flower shop called The Kitten, but they were also running away from several kittens. ^_^    


	2. The Ice King arrives...

            Author Note:  I'm a bit surprised by how this fic's turning out. I wasn't expecting any angst… but there's gonna be a bit.  Don't worry, you find out why he's like this in the next chapter.  *in the works*  Also, I don't really think Aya'd be this cold… but someone had to be against it, right?  ^_^;;  (runs away from Aya-fans throwing stuffed penguins)

"You know Ken, Aya's not going to be too thrilled about this," Yohji said as he finished toweling off a kitten.  Ken took the fluff-ball and set it on his apron, which had been spread out on the tile floor of the flower shop.  The three other kittens crawled over each other, trying to stay warm.  The cardboard box that they had arrived in had been soaked in the rain, as had the kittens.  

            "How old do you think they are, Yohji?"  Ken asked thoughtfully, noticing two of the kitten's eyes were open a bit.  The other two's were still sealed shut.

            "I don't know, and I don't really think that's what you ought to be worrying about right now."  Yohji replied, getting a bit angry with Ken for not listening to him.

            "I'd guess around two weeks. That's when they start opening their eyes, right?"

            "Ken!  Are you even listening to me?"  Yohji lightly hit Ken on the back of the head to get his attention as he stood up.  

            "I hear ya Yohji, I just choose not to reply." Ken grinned at his taller companion, now resting against the wall with his arms crossed.

            "You idiot, Ken.  What do you think's gonna—"

            "What's going on?"  Ken and Yohji both turned around to face their fearless leader, looking pretty unhappy.  _(Which wasn't far from the normal. ^_^)_

            "Um… I-it's a couple of kittens someone dropped off. They don't have a mother, so I thought maybe—"

            "No you didn't Ken.  You don't think things through.  We don't have time to take care of kittens.  We have enough to worry about.  Find someone else."  Aya said, as he turned around to leave the shop.

            "And if I can't find anyone?"  Ken replied, challenging the redhead.  Yohji couldn't believe it.  Someone was talking back to Aya, and it was Ken no less.  Sweet, innocent Ken.  _This will be interesting…_ he thought.

            "Take them to the animal shelter.  I'm sure they can provide for them better than we can."

            "No."  Yohji felt his jaw drop at that last remark from the soccer player.  "They'll kill them.  I won't do it."  Ken matched Aya's death glare with one of his own.  Yohji had to admit, Ken had a pretty convincing glare.  But it was the brunette who backed down first.  He looked down at the kittens, avoiding Aya's icy stare.  

            "Aya, let me do this.  I know what it's like to be neglected, all too well.  And I know they're only kittens, and really don't take precedence over anything, b-but…" Ken struggled with the words.  He felt his eyes water up.  He shut them, refusing to let any tears flow. 

            Yohji came to his rescue. "Aya, I think what Ken means is that, well you know how Persia took us all in."  Aya nodded, seeing where the blond was going with this logic.  "I think he just wants to pass on the favor.  C'mon. Four kittens can't be too hard to take care of, right?  At least until they're old enough to be on their own.  We could put posters up in the store asking if anyone wants one."

            Aya looked from Yohji's persuading face, to Ken, who was still not facing anyone.  His bangs had fallen over his face, hiding his eyes_.  I guess he's got his reasons…_ he thought.  Sighing, he gave up.  "All right.  Until they're old enough.  Then they need to get out of here.  But I don't want either of you using them as excuses for anything.  Especially you, Kudou.  Also, you two will have to pay for anything you need to get to take care of them.  I expect both of you to take full responsibility for them."

            "Whaa-?"Yohji started.

            "You should probably keep them in one of your rooms until they can walk.  Then we can put them in the shop during the days so customers can look at them."

            "Wait a sec—" Yohji got cut off, again.

            "Arigatou, Aya."  Ken said quietly, still not looking up.  Aya left then, leaving Yohji with an expression that clearly said, "That's not what I wanted to happen"

            "_E~eh_," The blond sighed as he walked over to Ken.  "Well, I guess we have something to keep us busy for a while.  Even though I wasn't really suggesting that **I **help…What's wrong, Kenken?"  Yohji noticed the tears in Ken's eyes.  

            Ken quickly wiped his eyes and put a smile on his face. "It's nothing.  C'mon, let's get these guys into a dry box and into my room."  He got up and ran to the storeroom to look for a box.  Yohji shook his head.  _An enigma…_


	3. The past arrives...

Authors Note:  Well, I'm officially making this story a 'general'.  It was suppose to be just humor, with a hint of shounen-ai, but it's becoming kindof angsty.  I'll make it lighter in the next chapters hopefully.  I know this took a while, but with the end of school, (busy)  and then I got into kindof a not-wanting-to-do-anything kind of mood…. Then I had vacation.  I found time to write then.  ^_^  Perhaps it turned out angsty because I just finished The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.  I suggest to **anyone** to read that series.  (Especially shounen-ai/yaoi fans)  Alright. Enough Rambling.  ~UP

"Well, I'm done." Yohji said as he flopped on his bed.  They had put the kittens in Yohji's room because Ken's was too messy.

            "For a few hours, anyway." Ken said, smiling as he put the last kitten back in the box.  He knew what Yohji's reaction to that would be.

            "What?!" Yohji sat up quickly with a look of shock on his face. 

            "They gotta be fed every three to four hours, ya know. That's what the vet said.  Normally they'd just feed off the mother whenever they get hungry."

            Yohji sighed and let his upper body land back on his mattress with a quiet _thump_.  "Well, you can play mother cat, Kenken.  I'll just be the tom cat that takes no part in the upbringing." The comment was meant to be a joke, but it took Ken by surprise.  He fell silent, staring into the box which contained the kittens.

            The playboy found the silence coming from Ken more than a little unnerving, so he sat up again to find out what was bothering his friend.  "What is it, Ken?"  The brunette appeared to be in some sort of a trance.  Yohji relaxed a bit after remembering that they all went into a trance like this every now and then.  Usually when they were reliving past memories, friends, or lovers.  

            He didn't think Ken had many lovers; in fact, he could only think of two people Ken was close to.  Yuriko, but she had moved to Australia, and Ken hadn't gotten terribly serious with her.  Then there was Kase.  Ken had talked to Yohji a little bit about Kase, and he was sure he wasn't a lover. They had been close friends - almost like brothers.  Kase's betrayal must have been like a sword being stabbed in Ken's gut, and twisted.

            Yohji continued wondering what Ken was thinking about so deeply, when he remembered an earlier conversation.

_~~~~~_

_"They'll kill them.  I won't do it."  Ken matched Aya's death glare with one of his_

_own.  Yohji had to admit, Ken had a pretty convincing glare.  But it was the brunette who backed down first.  He looked down at the kittens, avoiding Aya's icy_

_stare.  _

_            "Aya, let me do this.  I know what it's like to be neglected, all too well.  And I know they're only kittens, and really don't take precedence over anything,_

_b-but…" Ken struggled with the words.  He felt his eyes water up.  He shut them, refusing to let any tears flow. _

_~~~~~_

_            Wait a second, Neglect? _The blonde looked over at his friend, who seemed to have come out of his trance, and seemed to be trying to remember who's room he was in and why.  

            "I-I guess I'd better get back... Is it okay if I leave them in here? I'll set an alarm in my room so I don't wake-"

            "Ken," Yohji interrupted. "Why don't you just pester Omi into letting you borrow his sleeping bag and just sleep in here?  That way you won't have to go from your room to mine every three hours.  We could even just stay up all night.  It'll be like a sleep-over.  C'mon. It'll be fun." 

            "Really?" Ken's face brightened at Yohji's friendly-ness.  "All right, I'll just go get-"

            "_If,_ that is, you will talk to me about something." Yohji said.

            "Sure! I'll be right back."  Ken hopped up and left the room.  He had no idea it was him that Yohji wanted to talk about. Ken was sometimes the therapist of the four.  He would be someone everyone could come to talk to - even Aya on occasion.  Often times, he would be the vent for Yohji when he needed to blow some steam.  Not physically, but just with the words.  He thought of it as a way he helped everyone stay sane. 

            So of course, he figured this time was no different.  He actually thought Yohji wanted some advice on another of his "woman problems".  

            He reached Omi's door, and lightly knocked. When he didn't get an answer, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside.  He glanced at the clock; it was a lot later than he had expected.  _I'm sure Omi won't mind_. He stole a glance at the young assassin.  _He looks so innocent_, he thought and quietly went to the closet and opened it up.  He grabbed the dark blue roll of cloth and sneaked back out of the room, thanking the gods that his clumsy-ness didn't kick in. He really didn't want to wake Omi up.  The poor kid had school in the morning.

            On the way back up the stairs, however, he tripped three times. _Grrrrrr...._ he thought angrily.  

            Once he made it back to Yohji's room, he felt better.  He unrolled the sleeping bag and stretched out on it.  "All right, what did you want to talk about?  Didja make someone cry?  Feeling guilty about two-timing someone?" Ken said the latter bit with a grin, knowing the playboy would not feel guilty about something like that. 

            "No, actually I want to talk about you."  

            That took Ken by surprise.  "What?"

            "You went into one of our little 'Trances' a little bit ago.  What were you thinking about?"

            Ken thought Yohji was crazy. _He wants to talk about me?  My problems?  Nobody's ever asked about me.... It must be a joke_, he thought.  But when he glanced at Yohji, he saw concern in the blonde's eyes.  That shocked him more than anything.   He decided to try it.

            "I-I was thinking about my parents."  He dropped his gaze to the floor. "my mom hadn't wanted to have a kid, I was an accident, and she make sure I knew that.  By the time I was ten, I had to go out and buy myself food if I wanted to eat."

            "Where'd you get the money?" Yohji asked, surprised at how easily Ken opened up.  

            "Little things. I collected pop cans and turned them in, did little jobs for neighbors, borrow money from my friends... Anyway, after I got on the J-league, it was no problem.  I don't even know if my mother knows where I went.  I just left one day, when I was 14..." Ken trailed off, deep in thought.

            "Where was your father?" Yohji asked, his voice quiet.  He wasn't sure he would get an answer, but he was pretty sure what it would be.

            Ken snorted. "Hell if I know.  He was just he sperm donator.  As soon as he found out she was pregnant, he ran off.  Guess that's why she didn't want me." Ken paused.  "Sometimes I wonder why she didn't get rid of me.  An abortion or something... you hear of people killing their kids after their born-"

            "Ken! Don't think like that!" 

            "If she didn't want me so bad, why-"  The brunette choked on a sob.

            Ken had been there for Yohji after that meeting with Auska, whether it was Auska or not, so he figured turns about fair play.  He got up off of the bed and pulled Ken into an embrace.  That's when Ken broke.  He let it all go, and Yohji felt the need for a dry shirt.  To his supurise, Ken fell asleep in his arms.  Yohji carefully laid him down and set his alarm to go off in three hours.  He climbed back into his bed, and fell asleep.


	4. The friendship arrives...

Authors Note:  Thank you, all you faithful reviewers.  And just so you don't get confused, yes, I am female.  ^_^  A little note I need to add… I was watching episode 18 again the other day, and realized that Ken says something in there that really screws up my last chapter.  ^_^;;;;   Well, if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.  Let's just say that with Ken's past, that part of the story is AU.  ^_^  One final thing.  While I haven't gotten to any actual shounen-ai, there will definitely be some Yohji-Ken bonding.  That's almost as cute, right?  ~UP

**_Bzzzzzt_**   Ken sat up and smacked the alarm clock.  After remembering why he was in Yohji's room, he looked over at Yohji's still sleeping form.  Go figure.  He's not used to go not getting more than 9 hours plus at a time.  Ken got up and stretched.  He looked over at Yohji again, and saw the playboy had his arms stretched out over his head. He looked pretty comfortable.

                _Heh. Not for long_.  Ken picked out a kitten and brought it over to Yohji.  He placed it carefully on Yohji's face.  The kitten thought it was dinnertime and began chewing on his nose.

                "It's eating me-" Yohji woke up with a gasp.  He pulled the kitten from his face and glared at his younger companion.  

                "She's hungry." Ken grinned.

                "Yeah, I can tell."  Yohji said, sitting up and yawning.  "I suppose we should feed them then."  He got up and stretched.  "All right. Where's the food?"  

                "Um... downstairs, in the kitchen.  Could you go get it?" 

                "Ken, you're one of my friends, and for that you should feel lucky.  I've been sleeping for only-" He pauses long enough to glance at the clock.  "Three hours, and I would kill most people for waking me up after so little sleep.  _Now_ you want me to go all the way downstairs to the kitchen and get the food for the kittens _you_ wanted to take care of?"  
                Ken looked up at Yohji with his best puppy-dog eyes.  Yohji sighed and messed up Ken's hair as he walked by.  "You're just lucky I like you, Ken-ken."

                Yohji stumbled down to the kitchen as quietly as he could.  After all, he didn't want to wake up the Ice Dragon.  Having only three hours and being awake under ten minutes left him with very little coordination.  He found the light switch on the third try and flipped it on.  He opened a door under the counter, and saw a box that looked like the one Ken had used earlier to make the milk.  He reached for it and heard bare feet slapping on the linoleum floor behind him.  

                "No, you want the box up there.  That's soap for the dishwasher."

                "Oh."  Yohji closed the door and turned around, a puzzled look on his face.  "We have a dishwasher?"

                "Yeah, but Omi doesn't like us to use it much.  Says it's for the lazy man.  Guess I shouldn't have told you, huh Yohji?"  Ken grinned at the blonde.

                "Yeah," Yohji smiled back.  "Wait, why are you down here?"

                "Oh, I forgot to give you these to rinse out."  Ken held out the two eyedroppers they were feeding the kittens with earlier.  "Guess it's a good thing I came down anyway.  You don't function well under little sleep, do you?"  Ken handed Yohji the eyedroppers and grabbed the box of dehydrated milk.  "I'll go ahead and make the milk.  You rinse those out, okay?"

                "Bossy." Yohji said in a mocking tone so Ken could tell he was joking.  "So you don't trust me anymore, huh?"

                " I didn't say that." Ken grinned and pushed Yohji playfully.  

                "You think I'm gonna kill the kittens. Admit it."  Yohji turned towards Ken and began tickling his ribs.  "Admit it Ken-ken!"

                "Stop- Yohji, Stop!" Ken managed to say in-between his laughter.  

                "Admit it Ken!" Yohji continued his tickle-torture, laughing as well.

                "All right, I admit it!" Ken said, ending the tickling.  Ken was a bit surprised to see the playful side of Yohji so soon after waking up.  Yohji patted Ken on the head before rinsing out the eyedroppers.  

***

                "So do you think we ought to name them?"

                "I think we ought to go to sleep."  Yohji pulled out a cigarette and began to light it.

                "Oh no." Ken said as he saw what Yohji was doing.

                "What?" Yohji asked, getting annoyed.

                "Please, Yohji. Don't light that.  I'll go to bed. I'm almost done anyway. Please?  The kittens don't need that in their lungs.  Considering how small they are, it may kill them..."

                Yohji sighed and put it out in the ashtray beside his bed.  "You win again, Ken."  He laid down on his bed and shut his eyes.

                "_Aww crap_!" Ken hissed.

                "Now what?" Yohji sat up again and looked at his friend. Ken was sitting cross-legged on the sleeping bag with three of the kittens scattered in front of him.  There was a cup which held the milk they were feeding the kittens off to Ken side, but still on the sleeping bag.  Ken was holding the fourth kitten. When Yohji looked up, he saw that Ken had been trying to feed her when she had decided she'd had enough and refused the rest that Ken had been trying to squirt out of the dropper. So that milk had dripped on the sleeping bag.  Ken tried to act fast to put the dropper to the side and wipe the kitten's mouth and accidentally knocked the cup of milk over.  He just looked at it and blinked.  

                "Sheesh, Ken, can't you ever catch a break?"  Yohji got up and helped him put all four kittens back in the box.  

                Ken picked up the cup and shook his head.  "Well, I am the clumsy one," he said sadly as he attempted to mop up the sleeping bag with tissues.  

                "Ken, that won't work. Here."  Yohji took the tissues and threw them away.  Then he picked up the sleeping bag and hung it over a chair.  "We'll just have to wash it tomorrow."  

                The younger boy looked at the sleeping bag, then at the floor.  "Now where am I suppose to sleep?"  Ken yawned and looked up at Yohji.  

                "Do you think the kittens will be all right for more than four hours?  Like, can we just sleep until we wake up and feed them then?"

                "Probably," he said, looking at Yohji curiously.

                "Good.  Now, in case you didn't know, this bed is big enough for two people.  If you don't mind sharing."

                "Better than a wet sleeping bag."  Ken smiled.  He didn't really want to sleep on the plain floor, or go all the way back down to his room.  Plus, Yohji's bed did look comfortable.  "Um... wait.  When's the last time..."

                "Hasn't been anyone in here besides me for over a week. Heh. Surprising, huh?  And yes, I just changed the sheets a few days ago. Don't worry Ken-ken. It's safe."

                Ken sighed a sigh of relief and crawled under the sheets.

                "Hey Ken?"

                "Yeah?"

                "Thanks. For getting me involved in this ... matter."

                "What?"  Ken asked, surprised.

                "You know, I don't hardly know anything about you.  Hell, I had no idea you had such a rough childhood until a few hours ago.  I have a feeling I'll be getting to know you a lot better in these next few weeks.  And I'm glad. You're a good person Ken."

                Ken was silent.  Yohji poked him so he turned over to face the blonde.

                "Oh, and I have this feeling that you weren't hugged much as a kid, so anytime you need a hug, I'll be ready." Yohji said, smiling.

                "Thanks, Yohji."  He leaned in and Yohji gave him a hug before turning off the lamp by the bed. 

                "Good night, Ken-ken."

                "G'night Yo-tan."


End file.
